


Uncomfortable comforts.

by Shish



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Gen, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25876708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shish/pseuds/Shish
Summary: How is Rachel? She just confirmed her fears about her mother being dead; she is living with a stranger in another stranger's house.My first ever badly written fic, just cannot stop thinking about this poor girl and her trauma, and maybe a bit of backstory trying to explain loose treads. If only for my own sake.
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

In the first weeks, there was this unspoken rule of tidying everything back where it belongs. Like you would in a vacation home or when staying over at a friends house. 

Rachel was more than happy to uphold the odd practices of the homestead. Sleeping in a regular bed again, with Nicole reassurances of «it will be safe here,» got her the deep sleep she had only dreamed of back at the lab in Monument. 

Purgatory was deserted, and Nicole had been back in town a couple of times to get food or look for CJ, but she always told Rachel it was best for her to stay home. Home …. It was neither of their homes. Rachel only had distant memories of home; from the moment her mother began working for BBD, there had been only bunk beds and communal kitchens. 

The eerie quietness of the homestead whenever Nicole was out felt so vast that Rachel cooped up in Waverly's bedroom by the window just looking out for Nicole and her truck to return through the Earp stead gate. 

She struggled with the mental clarity and ruminations the consequences of deep sleep and quiet surroundings gave her. Staying alert and on edge had its upsides.

Her mind regularly returned to the last day at the lab; her memories of getting out of the BBD facility where blurry, however the last glance she placed on her mother's body stod out clear in her mind. She had wanted to lift her down from her position, lay her body to rest, but Nicole had convinced her that seeing her mothers face would not bring her any more closure. 

They didn’t speak about her again until they were in the car driving back to purgatory. A vet on the outskirts of Monument had to the best of his ability tried to straighten Nicole's bones with a makeshift cast. Drugged her up with painkillers and sent them on their way. Rachel had to drive, and the last words Nicole said to her before she zoned out was « Drive to the town of purgatory, it is west of here, use my phone if you need to» and « we will come back and bury her sweetheart, I promise.»


	2. Chapter 2

A month had gone by, and there wasn't much change. Rachel and Nicole mainly stayed at the homestead, Nicole kept busy by working on the house or random projects in the barn, those that didn't compromise her wanky but slowly healing leg. Rachel tried to stay active by going through Waverly's extensive book collections, but Rachel missed reading fiction.  
She occasionally used Nicole's phone and tried to watch whatever tv-shows she could on it. Most of the time, the reception was bad, and sometimes the disconnect between the deserted and lonesome way they were living and the busy worlds she would watch on the screen left her more lonely. 

It wasn't like Nicole had given up finding her family, but Rachel noticed a change in Nicole's demeanor, this feeling Wynonna and her sister would just quickly return had left them both. 

They had talked a lot during the first month, Nicole would come by her bed in the evening, her bedtime turning to an earlier hour each day. Just by not having much to do, sleeping was an easy way to pass the time. 

There where odd things they never discussed, like if Rachel had other family looking for her somewhere, or if they should leave the homestead and try to reach some civilization. Who knew when they might get cut off the power grid or run out of places to get food.

Some of it was small talk, this awkward dance where neither of them was very interested in what they were talking about, but just needed the distraction that came with it. At times Nicole would scoot up beside her on the bed, and Rachel knew that it meant that the evening talk would be an emotional one. 

Sometimes the loss of her mom felt unbearably absurd. The zombies, the gate to the garden, and the whole of BBD enterprise that Rachel was aware of created a vacuum of uncertainty. She new Nicole understood the emotion, being subjected to the disappearance of her loved ones herself into an unknown existence. Rachel nonetheless had witnessed her mother's body and was reminded through Nicoles repeated reassurance they would go back and give her a proper burial. Rachel didn't always appreciate the repeated promise. It was hard simultaneously wishing her friend would be reunited with her family and understanding her reality of never being able to again. 

Rachel loved her mom dearly, but the last memories of her were of an overworked woman barely able to focus on anything else than what was a quite severe emergency at Black Badge. 

Gloria had tucked her in one night, a rarity when you're 15, and repeated a drill for Rachel to remember. " Call Agent Page from this flip-phone" she dangled an ugly green Motorola relic in front of Rachel before sticking under her pillow. "keep it on you at all times, and never enter the lower levels." Gloria squeezed Rachel wrist through the blanket, keeping her hand there but already turning her body toward the commotion coming from another room. It was the last physical contact they had shared. 

Three weeks passed before Rachel had to remember the drill, the situation at BBD escalated, and she knew something had happened to both her mother and her mother's colleagues down in the lower level lab.


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel appreciated Nicole treating her as her equal. Nicole always came back from her errands in town with updates and would include Rachel in discussing any new leads or ideas regarding looking for her family. 

There were other times when Nicole suddenly remembered Rachel's age. Overcome with concern; she would rant about the stranges things, like if they should try to get a hold of some homeschooling curriculum and what grade Rachel was in and if she had begun evaluating what she wanted to do in the future, and what about college applications? 

Rachel thought it was sweet. She also recognized the need for Nicole to feel in control of something so she would indulge her with different alternatives, and they would sit down and discuss each one meticulously.

She had gone to Monument high for all of three weeks. Back at the beginning of establishing the facility, they had naively thought that the BB "kids," aka the children of Black Badge agents and scientists working at BB Monument, could be integrated at the local schools. It wasn't long before a couple of the kids had used BB intel, or more like smuggled out monster specimens to use as social currency and Rachels short, but enjoyable friendships with other people her age came to an abrupt end. 

They were all of eight kids at BB and of them only two teens; Rachel and Efraim. Efraim was thirteen, obsessed with Fortnite, and although Rachel played with him occasionally, there is a lot of years between thirteen and sixteen. With one teacher between them, Rachel graduated high school early; what else was there to do? 

Rachel didn't think it made much difference now anyway, her choices back on that fateful day in Monument when she had to make the call to Page had changed the trajectory of her life, and she was afraid to investigate further yet what would entail for her future.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need a course in the first person, second person...I don't know what this is. But I had it on my computer, hardly remember writing it. Trying to get to the point where Rachel meets Dolls.

Rachel used to be a deep sleeper, more by habit and compliance than anything. She would always wear headphones at night, and she had fashioned a small cave within her bunk bed, all to keep out the goddamn noise coming from all the machinery always erratically dunking, buzzing or ticking at BBD. 

"RACHEL!!!" Rachel wakes up to Efraim's face an inch from her own, his eyes barely open, but he has a vice grip on her shoulder. "I was just going to the toilet. I don't understand what's happening" He sounds panicked; "they have locked the hallways, and the staircase exits, opened the bunkers. I can't reach anyone on the call system, and it smells dead weird." his whispering is ridiculously loud, his forehead is sweaty, Rachel notices the abnormal heat encompassing them, and the aforementioned weird smell, that is somewhat burnt hair-ish. 

Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she wonders if she is prepared for an emergency tonight, why not in a couple of days, when she has come to terms with it. " Okey, Okey, I'm up" not one for comforting gestures she shoves Ephraim out of her space, reaches for the clothes she has pushed under her bed and gives him a small kick in the shin. 

"Hey! Now that we are doing this" she eyes him ", and you woke me up" she gestures to herself before she kicks him again ", and we are going into emergency mode, you'll need to trust me yeah?" It is just to centre him; she already can tell he is freaking out only by the subservient static position he is standing in.

It works, he meets her gaze, and it is like the electricity is back on. "Ok then-commander, what is your emergency plan?" he squats and seems ready to draw up a map and some weapons for her disposal. She thinks him playing Fortnite 24/7 might be a good thing. 

"Easy, get the kids into the bunker, close the bunker, stay there" she gestures with exaggerated width in her movements, as it might give the illusion it is a more extensive assignment she is giving him. 

He blinks " And you?" 

"I am calling in it in, but knowing the reception, I might need to reach the roof through the air-vents, before I can make the call. " Efraim looks at her sceptically before puffing out nervously; "Air-vents? Sounds like a dumb plan". 

Rachel reaches under her pillow, unsure if she wants to make any call, might just leave it, and see what happens.


End file.
